Frequent visits to the cinema where he watched his favourite ‘cowboy’ films from the pit with his friends and sometimes his grandparents is what drove Mahadeo Shivraj in the direction of acting.
In fact, he told The Scene, at around the age of five he told his grandparents that he wanted to be a “star boy” when he grew up in reference to the lead actor of the movies he saw.
“I did not know at that time that the star boy was an actor. Later on I realized that and I changed my wording,” Shivraj told The Scene via email from his home in New York.
Shivraj’s name is now a household name in Guyana as he is very popular in the theatre circles as an actor, director and writer and he has quite a few films under his belt as well. After acting in close to 100 plays and directing about 40, Shivraj said he still has the same love and passion for the art form he had as a child. And while he is now in love with the stage, it was not the stage he once dreamt about; it was being in front of a camera.
“Strange as it may seem, I never dreamt of doing plays. I always dreamt of the movies. But now that I have done plays I don’t think I can stop going on stage. The stage has its own magic,” he said.
He said he went to New York to get into the movies but for various reasons had a lot of “drawbacks” and for 15 years he could not try out even if he wanted to. He revealed that he was on the verge of being cast in a Broadway play – Bombay Dreams – which would have launched him not only on Broadway but also made it possible for a Hollywood career.
“But I had to let it go. That too is part of this real-life drama. Some things I just don’t like to remember,” he said but gave no more details.
‘Dream’
He recalled that it was a dream when the first movie – Anmol Bandhan (The Precious Knot) – was made in Guyana and even at the age of 11 he was hoping to get a role even though he was not known by anyone in the acting circles. He tried out for the second movie – If Wishes Were Horses – as a teenager but did not make the cut not even as an extra.
Not to be daunted, Shivraj said, he went day in day out in an attempt to see the director of the third movie – Sounds of the Sugar Cane.
“I went to Motion Pictures Limited every day and I begged one of the actors – Alan Thomas – to help me to get into the movie. I think he had fun making me climb to the top of Bhaichandeen Building everyday to the Penthouse because I did it and he just never did anything for me. He would just say, ‘Come back tomorrow and you will get to see the director.’ That never happened,” Shivraj said. In the end he made it as an extra in the movie but is now fuzzy about how it happened.
It was Neaz Subhan who gave him first big break as Shivraj recalled that he was working at the Guyana National Cooperative Bank when Subhan joined the staff. Subhan later offered him the lead role in a play – Vishwas – “just like that!”
By then, Shivraj said, he was married and had started to live a very spiritual life after being a “happy go lucky guy for many years.” Because of this, he initially refused the role, but Subhan insisted that he read the script.
“I did and I told my wife about it and she said ‘Well isn’t that what you dreamt of doing?’ I said yes to Neaz and did the play and a few other directors saw me and cast me in their plays.”
Freddie Sanchara, who saw him Subhan’s play, really opened up the doors for him. Shivraj told The Scene that Sanchara was the cameraman for the movies Anmol Bandhan and If Wishes Were Horses and he asked him where he was when they were filming those movies. He related to Sanchara that he had been “begging to get in.
“I knew him but he did not know me. Now all of a sudden this man started to produce plays and he would tell Neaz – I am producing such and such a play Shivraj is the star find the rest of the cast. It was like magic.”
Shivraj said that in four and a half years in the theatre before leaving for New York he had acted in 40 plays.
“I used to rehearse for two and sometimes three plays at a time. I enjoyed it because I loved it,” Shivraj said
The sound words of columnist Al Creighton were what caused Shivraj to pull up his strings so to speak. He said he recalled that Creighton in a review had written “that actors did not study enough or prepare enough and that struck me.
“He was general in his comment but it had a deep impact on me and up to this day I am glad it did because when I came to New York I started to read and study a lot and put it into practice when I worked on a play.”
He was congratulated by Jasper Adams, who saw him in Ronald Hollingsworth’s play Till I find a place in Sophia, for his marked improvement on his acting and he said that was in tribute to him studying his roles. He subsequently went on to Herbert Bergh of Studios and New York University to study acting as well.
Directing
But even as he acted Shivraj also directed plays simultaneously; after about 20 plays he began to direct and fell in love with this as well. His debut play as a director was with Murray Schisgal’s LUV for which he won the Theatre Arts Award for Best Set Design. Shivraj also designs sets.
He said his writing is restricted mainly to his comedy show ‘Laff till yuh belly buss’ and recently he also wrote a screenplay based on Hollingsworth’s play Till I Find a Place, which he made into a movie. He also wrote two others one was on Hollingsworth’s play Till I Find a Place 2 and the other was My Brother, My Wife and I. He said he has plans to make these two screenplays into movies in the near future.
Shivraj is currently writing a screenplay based on a play by another Guyanese playwright – Somnauth Narine – entitled Brown Sugar Too Bitter For Me and he plans for it to be his next movie.
For Shivraj he has had a dream career as he tells The Scene that every moment in his career was successful “because I had the opportunity to do what I love most…
“Theatre is in itself an educating tool. There are many messages constantly being imparted.”
He has had a few opportunities in Hollywood films and television but says the most successful moments in his career were the times he had the opportunity to share spirituality through his short one-man dramas.
“These were most successful because they helped to bring about changes in peoples’ lives in a different way. I consider that as being real success.”
He had some very memorable moments and named Dave Martins’ musical Raise Up as one of those moments. He said director Ron Robinson had advertised for actors/singers but he never went to the audition because he does not sing. One day about two months later Robinson called him and related that he auditioned many persons and he could not find the right person and wondered why he did not audition.
“I told him I don’t sing. He took me to the GDF Frontline Band and had me practice for one month and on the opening night of the play after the performance – he told the audience that he thinks I deserve an Academy Award. That was a really great moment. He was satisfied with me and we subsequently went on tour to the Cayman Islands and North America with the production and I had a marvelous time with rave reviews everywhere we went.”
When he was not acting, directing or writing, Shivraj spent his working life in the accounting and auditing field and while he loved it, “it was not fulfilling like acting.”
He is a cricket lover and once captained his school team and was called up for trials for Guyana’s Under-19 team but did not make the cut. He subsequently captained Gandhi Youth Organistion Nothcote team as well as GNCB team for a while along with a softball team.
He reveals that he practices Raj Yoga meditation, which he says brings equanimity and peace.
“I have been a vegetarian for 26 years and just decided to give that up too. Now I live only on fruits, nuts, seeds and some vegetables! It is Rawsome!!!”
Shivraj has been married for 30 years and is the father of one son who showed an inclination for acting as a child but as an adult is not longer interested even though his father encouraged him and went as far as offering him a role in one of his plays.
“I do not force him, he has to find his own niche,” he said.
Shivraj hopes that local artistes would be more appreciated. He encourages actors to study and do their homework whenever they are preparing for a role as he finds there “is head but not so much heart in the actors. The foundation has to be heart. Love for the art!!! Only then will it be true!!!”
